CHAPTER 666: EPISODE 353: GO BACK AND THANK YOU

The noise outside the inn not only didn’t stop but grew louder and louder as if eight or nine people were laughing and shouting loudly, calling out at the top of their lungs. From time to time came the sound of "crackling" firecrackers, and the pungent smell of saltpeter wafted through the windows into the room in waves.

The guests who were woken up gradually started to complain. Someone stomped out, asked loudly, cursed for a bit, and then slammed the door shut with a bang.

Downstairs in the main hall, a lamp flickered on, and the shopkeeper’s apologetic voice came up through the wooden floorboards. Meng Yuhuai sat quietly in the pitch-dark room for a moment, furrowed his brow, and then quietly stepped out, gently closing the door behind him.

"Shopkeeper."

"Leader Meng? Just a moment, coming right up!"

The shopkeeper hurried up to the second floor, and before even reaching Meng Yuhuai, he began to apologize profusely, "Sorry, sorry, we’ve disturbed your rest. This really is..."

"Keep it down." Meng Yuhuai whispered, gesturing him with his hand, "What exactly is going on?"

"Ah, it’s just some troublemakers from the city."

The shopkeeper stamped his feet repeatedly and leaned in, whispering mysteriously, "You’re not often in the Provincial City, so you’re unaware of the situation here. In Tong’an City, whenever there’s a big event, the gambling houses make a fortune. I won’t dwell on past occurrences, but just this afternoon, the final list of the six restaurants in the Eight Treasures Conference finale was just announced. Immediately the gambling house in the south of the city opened the betting pool—boy, those gamblers, they were scrambling to risk it all! Right, during dinner, the guests here were all talking about it. I heard the odds for your Daoxiang Garden were..."

"There’s no need to tell me about that."

Meng Yuhuai frowned again, "Tell me about those ruffians."

"Them?..." The shopkeeper moved closer to him and said, "Well, don’t take offense, Leader Meng, but eight or nine times out of ten, they’ve placed their bets on Daoxiang Garden’s opponents, knowing you folks are staying here, they took it upon themselves to cause trouble, hoping to make it so noisy that you can’t rest, and you’ll be off your game at the Eight Treasures Conference tomorrow!"

As he said this, a look of concern appeared on his face, "Ah, Your Lady is supposed to be cooking tomorrow, right? At this hour..."

"We’re fine, thank you for the concern." Meng Yuhuai nodded at him.

As the shopkeeper had said, those people were likely there to disturb their rest in hopes of winning their bets, but they might not be acting on their own accord.

He paused, then continued, "Tong’an is the Provincial City, the government should be stricter about night disturbances; aren’t they afraid of attracting the authorities?"

The shopkeeper let out a sigh of mixed emotions, "You don’t know, these ruffians, they’re sly ones in the city, and they know every large and small path by heart. If the night patrol does come, they’ll scatter like birds and beasts; no one can catch them. And then there are those even worse who will stay put and wait for the officials to come, insisting there are thieves hidden in my inn. Once the soldiers search the place, you all will be even more disturbed! In my opinion, the best thing for you to do is to ignore them; they’re only human after all and will eventually get tired and disperse."

With that, he shook his head, yawned, and unsteadily descended with the lantern in hand.

Meng Yuhuai stood outside the door for a while, his ears filled with the noise, before finally going back inside. However, he didn’t return to bed. Instead, he closed the windows tightly, thought better of it, opened them a crack again, and then sat down quietly at the table, remaining silent throughout.

Hua Xiaomai, underneath the thin blanket, moved carefully and pulled off the large earmuffs she had over her ears, wiping away the sweat that had formed around her temples.

After all, these earmuffs were stuffed with cotton and not made of any special sound-proofing material; how could they possibly shield her from every sound? She had woken up as soon as the noise started downstairs, and she had faintly heard some of Meng Yuhuai’s conversation with the innkeeper through the door but had stayed in bed, pretending to sleep, to avoid worrying him.

She cautiously opened one eye and peered toward the table.

In the darkness, she could only see his tall shadow, solid as a rock.

He stood guard there, obviously ready to deal with any sudden issues, but... coming to the Eight Treasures Conference on her behalf was merely about winning an argument, yet it caused him such restlessness...

Hua Xiaomai suddenly felt her nose tingle and her eyes grow warm, so she quickly closed them tightly, almost forcing herself to turn a deaf ear to the commotion downstairs and fall asleep as soon as possible.